Data Governance Plan
Approved: 6/14/17
Purpose—
Data governance is an organizational approach to data and information management that is formalized as a set of policies and procedures that encompass the full life cycle of data; from acquisition, to use, to disposal. The Utah Board of Education and South Sanpete School District (SSSD) takes seriously its moral and legal responsibility to protect student privacy and ensure data security. Utah’s Student Data Protection Act (SDPA), U.C.A §53A-1-1401 requires that SSSD adopt a Data Governance Plan.
Scope and Applicability —
This policy is applicable to all employees, temporary employees, and contractors of the Agency. The policy must be used to assess agreements made to disclose data to third-parties. This policy must also be used to assess the risk of conducting business. In accordance with Agency policy and procedures, this policy will be reviewed and adjusted on an annual basis or more frequently, as needed. This policy is designed to ensure only authorized disclosure of confidential information. The following 8 subsections provide data governance policies and processes for SSSD:
- Data Advisory Groups
- Non-Disclosure Assurances for Employees
- Data Security and Privacy Training for Employees
- Data Disclosure
- Data Breach
- Record Retention and Expungement
- Data Quality
- Transparency
Furthermore, this SSSD Data Governance Plan works in conjunction with the Agency Information Security Policy, which:
- Designates SSSD as the steward for all confidential information maintained within District.
- Designates Data Stewards access for all confidential information.
- Requires Data Stewards to maintain a record of all confidential information that they are responsible for.
- Requires Data Stewards to manage confidential information according to this policy and all other applicable policies, standards and plans.
- Complies with all legal, regulatory, and contractual obligations regarding privacy of Agency data. Where such requirements exceed the specific stipulation of this policy, the legal, regulatory, or contractual obligation shall take precedence.
- Provides the authority to design, implement, and maintain privacy procedures meeting SSSD standards concerning the privacy of data in motion, at rest and processed by related information systems.
- Ensures that all SSSD board members, employees, contractors, and volunteers comply with the policy and undergo annual privacy training.
- Provides policies and process for:
- Systems administration
- Network security
- Application security
- Endpoint, server, and device Security
- Identity, authentication, and access management
- Data protection and cryptography
- Monitoring, vulnerability, and patch management
- High availability, disaster recovery, and physical protection
- Incident Responses
- Acquisition and asset management, and
- Policy, audit, e-discovery, and training.
Data Advisory Groups_
Structure
SSSD has a three-tiered data governance structure to ensure that data is protected at all levels of Utah’s educational system.
Individual and Group resposibilites
The following tables outlines individual SSSD staff group responsibilities.
Role | Responsibilities |
LEA Student Data Manager |
|
IT Systems Security Manager |
|
Educators | |
Other |
Data Advisory Groups —
Structure
SSSD has a three-tiered data governance structure to ensure that data is protected at all levels of Utah’s educational system.
Individual and Group Responsibilities
The following tables outlines individual SSSD staff group responsibilitie
Table 1 Individual SSSD Staff Responsibilities
Employee Non-Disclosure Assurances—
Employee non-disclosure assurances are intended to minimize the risk of human error and misuse of information.
Scope
All SSSD board members, employees, contractors and volunteers must sign and obey the SSSD Employee Non-Disclosure Agreement (See Appendix A), which describes the permissible uses of state technology and information.
Non-Compliance
Non-compliance with the agreements shall result in consequences up to and including removal of access to SSSD network; if this access is required for employment, employees and contractors may be subject to dismissal.
Non-Disclosure Assurances
All student data utilized by SSSD is protected as defined by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and Utah statute. This policy outlines the way SSSD staff is to utilize data and protect personally identifiable and confidential information. A signed agreement form is required from all SSSD staff to verify agreement to adhere to/abide by these practices and will be maintained in SSSD Human Resources. All SSSD employees (including contract or temporary) will:
- Complete a Security and Privacy Fundamentals Training.
- Complete a Security and Privacy Training for Researchers and Evaluators, if your position is a research analyst or if requested by the Chief Privacy Officer.
- Consult with SSSD internal data owners when creating or disseminating reports containing data.
- Use password-protected state-authorized computers when accessing any student-level or staff-level records.
- NOT share individual passwords for personal computers or data systems with anyone.
- Log out of any data system/portal and close the browser after each use.
- Store sensitive data on appropriate-secured location. Unsecured access and flash drives, DVD, CD-ROM or other removable media, or personally owned computers or devices are not deemed appropriate for storage of sensitive, confidential or student data.
- Keep printed reports with personally identifiable information in a locked location while unattended, and use the secure document destruction service provided at SSSD when disposing of such records.
- NOT share personally identifying data during public presentations, webinars, etc. If users need to demonstrate child/staff level data, demo records should be used for such presentations.
- Redact any personally identifiable information when sharing sample reports with general audiences, in accordance with guidance provided by the student data manager, found in Appendix B (Protecting PII in Public Reporting).
- Take steps to avoid disclosure of personally identifiable information in reports, such as aggregating, data suppression, rounding, recoding, blurring, perturbation, etc.
- Delete files containing sensitive data after using them on computers, or move them to secured servers or personal folders accessible only by authorized parties.
- NOT use email to send screenshots, text, or attachments that contain personally identifiable or other sensitive information. If users receive an email containing such information, they will delete the screenshots/text when forwarding or replying to these messages. If there is any doubt about the sensitivity of the data the Student Data Privacy Manager should be consulted.
- Use secure methods when sharing or transmitting sensitive data. Also, sharing within secured server folders is appropriate for SSSD internal file transfer.
- NOT transmit child/staff-level data externally unless expressly authorized in writing by the data owner and then only transmit data via approved methods such as described in item ten.
- Limit use of individual data to the purposes which have been authorized within the scope of job responsibilities.
Data Security and Privacy Training
Purpose
SSSD will provide a range of training opportunities for all SSSD staff, including volunteers, contractors and temporary employees with access to student educational data or confidential educator records in order to minimize the risk of human error and misuse of information.
Scope
All SSSD board members, employees, and contracted partners.
Compliance
New employees that do not comply may not be able to use SSSD networks or technology.
Policy
- Within the first week of employment, all SSSD board members, employees, and contracted partners must sign and follow the SSSD Employee Acceptable Use Policy, which describes the permissible uses of state technology and information.
- New employees that do not comply may not be able to use SSSD networks or technology. Within the first week of employment, all SSSD board members, employees, and contracted partners also must sign and obey the SSSD Employee Non-Disclosure Agreement, which describes appropriate uses and the safeguarding of student and educator data.
- All current SSSD board members, employees, and contracted partners are required to participate in an annual Security and Privacy Fundamentals Training Curriculum within 60 days of the adoption of this rule.
- SSSD requires a targeted Security and Privacy Training for Data Stewards and IT staff for other specific groups within the agency that collect, store, or disclose data. The Chief Privacy Officer will identify these groups. Data and Statistics Coordinator will determine the annual training topics for these targeted groups based on SSSD training needs.
- Participation in the training as well as a signed copy of the Employee Non-Disclosure Agreement will be annually monitored by supervisors. Supervisors and the board secretary will annually report all SSSD board members, employees, and contracted partners who do not have these requirements completed to the IT Security Manager.
Data Disclosure
Purpose
Providing data to persons and entities outside of the SSSD increases transparency, promotes education in Utah, and increases knowledge about Utah public education. This policy establishes the protocols and procedures for sharing data maintained by SSSD. It is intended to be consistent with the disclosure provisions of the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act
(FERPA), 20 U.S.C. 1232g, 34 CFR Part 99 and Utah’s Student Data Protection Act (SDPA), U.C.A §53A-1-1401
Policy for disclosure of Personally Identifiable Information (PII)
Student or Student’s Parent/Guardian Access
Parents are advised that the records maintained by SSSD are provided to SSSD by the school district in which their student is/was enrolled, and access to their student’s record can be obtained from the student’s school district. In accordance with FERPA regulations 20 U.S.C. § 1232g (a)(1) (A) (B) (C) and (D), LEAs will provide parents with access to their child’s education records, or an eligible student access to his or her own education records (excluding information on other students, the financial records of parents, and confidential letters of recommendation if the student has waived the right to access), within 45 days of receiving an official request. LEAs and SSSD is not required to provide data that it does not maintain, nor is SSSD required to create education records in response to an eligible student's request.
Third Party Vendor
Third party vendors may have access to students’ personally identifiable information if the vendor is designated as a “school official” as defined in FERPA, 34 CFR §§ 99.31(a)(1) and 99.7(a)(3)(iii). A school official may include parties such as: professors, instructors, administrators, health staff, counselors, attorneys, clerical staff, trustees, members of committees and disciplinary boards, and a contractor, consultant, volunteer or other party to whom the school has outsourced institutional services or functions.
All third-party vendors contracting with SSSD must be compliant with Utah’s Student Data Protection Act (SDPA), U.C.A §53A-1-1401. Vendors determined not to be compliant may not be allowed to enter into future contracts with SSSD without third-party verification that they are compliant with federal and state law, and board rule.
Internal Partner Requests
Internal partners to SSSD include LEA and school officials that are determined to have a legitimate educational interest in the information. All requests shall be documented in SSSD’s data request system.
Governmental Agency Requests
SSSD may not disclose personally identifiable information of students to external persons or organizations to conduct research or evaluation that is not directly related to a state or federal program reporting requirement, audit, or evaluation. The requesting governmental agency must provide evidence the federal or state requirements to share data in order to satisfy FERPA disclosure exceptions to data without consent in the case of a federal or state
- reporting requirement
- audit
- evaluation
The Coordinator of Data and Statistics will ensure the proper data disclosure avoidance are included if necessary. An Interagency Agreement must be reviewed by legal staff and must include “FERPA-Student Level Data Protection Standard Terms and Conditions or Required Attachment Language.
Policy for External disclosure of Non-Personally Identifiable Information (PII)
Scope
External data requests from individuals or organizations that are not intending on conducting external research or are not fulfilling a state or federal reporting requirement, audit, or evaluation
Student Data Disclosure Risk Levels
SSSD has determined four levels of data requests with corresponding policies and procedures for appropriately protecting data based on risk: Low, Medium, and High. The Coordinator of Data and Statistics will make final determinations on classification of student data requests risk level.
Low-Risk Data Request Process
Definition: High-level aggregate data
Examples:
- Graduation rate by year for the state
- Percent of third-graders scoring proficient on the SAGE ELA assessment
Process: Requester creates a Data Request forwarded to appropriate Data Steward. Data Steward fulfills request and saves the dataset in a secure folder managed by the Coordinator of Data and Statistic.
Medium-Risk Data Request Process
Definition: Aggregate data, but because of potentially low n-sizes, the data must have disclosure avoidance methods applied.
Examples:
- Graduation rate by year and LEA
- Percent of third-graders scoring proficient on the SAGE ELA assessment by school
- Child Nutrition Program Free or Reduced Lunch percentages by school
Process: Requester creates a ticket, Data Request forwarded to appropriate Data Steward, Data Steward fulfills request, applies appropriate disclosure avoidance techniques, and sends to another Data Steward for Quality Assurance (ensuring student data protection). If it passes QA, data are sent to requester and saves the dataset in a secure folder managed by the Coordinator of Data and Statistics. Data Steward closes the ticket. If it does not pass QA, the data are sent back to the Data Steward for modification.
High-Risk Data Request Process
Definition: Student-level data that are de-identified.
Examples:
- De-identified student-level graduation data
- De-identified student-level SAGE ELA assessment scores for grades 3-6.
Process: Requester creates a ticket, Data Request forwarded to Data and Statistic Coordinator for review. If the request is approved, an MOA is drafted and sent to legal, placed on the board consent calendar (The SSSD authorizes the Superintendent to approve such request), sent to the Purchasing/Contract Manager, sent to Coordinator or Data and Statistics, appropriate Data Steward fulfills request, de-identifies data as appropriate, and sends to another Data Steward for Quality Assurance (ensuring student data protection). If it passes QA, data are sent to requester and saves the dataset in a secure folder managed by the Coordinator of Data and Statistics. The Data Steward closes the ticket. If it does not pass QA, the data are sent back to the Data Steward for modification.
Dataa Disclosure to a Requesting External Researcher or Evaluator
Responsibility: The Coordinator of Data and Statistics will ensure the proper data are shared with external researcher or evaluator to comply with federal, state, and board rules.
SSSD may not disclose personally identifiable information of students to external persons or organizations to conduct research or evaluation that is not directly related to a state or federal program audit or evaluation. Data that do not disclose PII may be shared with external researcher or evaluators for projects unrelated to federal or state requirements if:
- A SSSD Director, Superintendent, or board member sponsors an external researcher or evaluator request.
- Student data are not PII and are de-identified through disclosure avoidance techniques and other pertinent techniques as determined by the Coordinator of Data and Statistics.
- Researchers and evaluators supply the SSSD a copy of any publication or presentation that uses District data 10 business days prior to any publication or presentation.
Process: Research Proposal must be submitted using this form: http://www.schools.utah.gov/data/Data-Request/ResearcherProposal.aspx. Research proposals are sent directly to the Coordinator of Data and Statistics for review. If the request is approved, an MOA is drafted and sent to legal, then authorizes the Superintendent to approve such request, sent to the Purchasing/Contract Manager, sent to Coordinator or Data and Statistics, appropriate Data Steward fulfills request, de-identifies data as appropriate, and sends to another Data Steward for Quality Assurance (ensuring student data protection). If it passes QA, data is sent to requester and saves the dataset in a secure folder managed by the Coordinator of Data and Statistics. The Data Steward closes the ticket. If it does not pass QA, the data are sent back to the Data Steward for modification.
Data Breach—
Purpose
Establishing a plan for responding to a data breach, complete with clearly defined roles and responsibilities, will promote better response coordination and help educational organizations shorten their incident response time. Prompt response is essential for minimizing the risk of any further data loss and, therefore, plays an important role in mitigating any negative consequences of the breach, including potential harm to affected individuals.
Policy
SSSD shall follow industry best practices to protect information and data. In the event of a data breach or inadvertent disclosure of personally identifiable information, the District staff shall follow industry best practices outlined in the Agency IT Security Policy for responding to the breach. Further, SSSD shall follow best practices for notifying affected parties, including students, in the case of an adult student, or parents or legal guardians, if the student is not an adult student.
Concerns about security breaches must be reported immediately to the IT security manager who will collaborate with appropriate members of the District executive team to determine whether a security breach has occurred. If the SSSD data breach response team determines that one or more employees or contracted partners have substantially failed to comply with SSSD’s Agency IT Security Policy and relevant privacy policies, they will identify appropriate consequences, which may include termination of employment or a contract and further legal action. Concerns about security breaches that involve the IT Security Manager must be reported immediately to the Superintendent.
SSSD will provide and periodically update, in keeping with industry best practices, resources for Utah LEAs in preparing for and responding to a security breach. The District will make these resources available on its website.
Record Retention and Expungement—
Purpose
Records retention and expungement policies promote efficient management of records, preservation of records of enduring value, quality access to public information, and data privacy.
Scope
SSSD board members and staff.
Policy
The SSSD, staff, Utah LEAs and schools shall retain and dispose of student records in accordance with Section 63G-2-604, 53A-1-1407, and shall comply with active retention schedules for student records per Utah Division of Archive and Record Services.
In accordance with 53A-1-1407, the SSSD shall expunge student data that is stored upon request of the student if the student is at least 23 years old. The SSSD may expunge medical records and behavioral test assessments. SSSD will not expunge student records of grades, transcripts, a record of the student’s enrollment or assessment information. SSSD staff will collaborate with Utah State Achieves and Records Services in updating data retention schedules.
SSSD maintained student-level discipline data will be expunged after three years.
Quality Assurances and Transparency Requirements—
Purpose
Data quality is achieved when information is valid for the use to which it is applied, is consistent with other reported data and users of the data have confidence in and rely upon it. Good data quality does not solely exist with the data itself, but is also a function of appropriate data interpretation and use and the perceived quality of the data. Thus, true data quality involves not just those auditing, cleaning and reporting the data, but also data consumers. Data quality at is addressed in five areas:
Data Governance Structure
The SSSD data governance policy is structured to encourage the effective and appropriate use of educational data. The District data governance structure centers on the idea that data is the responsibility of all District sections and that data driven decision making is the goal of all data collection, storage, reporting and analysis. Data driven decision making guides what data is collected, reported and analyzed.
Data Requirements and Definitions
Clear and consistent data requirements and definitions are necessary for good data quality. On the data collection side, the SSSD communicates data requirements and definitions to LEAs through the Data Clearinghouse Update Transactions documentation (see http://www.schools.utah.gov/computerservices/Data-Clearinghouse.aspx). The SSSD also communicates with LEA IT staff regularly, at monthly Data Warehouse Group meetings and at biannual Data Conferences. Where possible, SSSD program specialists are invited to these meetings and the same guidance is given to the appropriate LEA program directors.
On the data reporting side, the production and presentation layers provide standard data definitions and business rules. Data Stewards coordinate data releases through the Data Stewards Group meetings. All data released includes relevant data definitions, business rules, and are date stamped. Further, Data and Statistics produces documentation, trainings and FAQs on key statistics and reports, such as AYP, graduation rate and class size.
Data Collection
Data elements should be collected only once—no duplicate data collections are permitted. Where possible, data is collected at the lowest level available (i.e. at the student/teacher level). Thus, there are no aggregate data collections if the aggregate data can be derived or calculated from the detailed data.
For all new data collections, SSSD will provide clear guidelines for data collection and the purpose of the data request. Time must be given to LEAs in order for them to begin gathering the data needed.
Data Auditing
Data and Statistics Data Analysts perform regular and ad hoc data auditing. They analyze data in the warehouse for anomalies, investigate the source of the anomalies, and work with IT and/or LEAs in explaining and/or correcting the anomalies. Data Analysts also work with School Finance to address findings from the Auditors.
Quality Control Checklist
Checklists have been proven to increase quality (See Appendix C). Therefore, before releasing high-risk data, Data Stewards and Data Analysts must successfully complete the data release checklist in three areas: reliability, validity and presentation.
Data Transparency—
Annually, SSSD will publically post:
- SSSD data collections
- Metadata Dictionary as described in Utah’s Student Data Protection Act (SDPA), U.C.A §53A-1-1401
Appendix
Appendix A. SSSD Employee Non-Disclosure Agreement
As an employee of the SSSD, I hereby affirm that: (Initial)
____ I have read the Employee Non-Disclosure Assurances attached to this agreement form and read and reviewed Data Governance Plan SSSD policies. These assurances address general procedures, data use/sharing, and
data security.
____ I will abide by the terms of the SSSD’s policies and its subordinate process and procedures;
____ I grant permission for the manual and electronic collection and retention of security related information, including but not limited to
photographic or videotape images, of your attempts to access the facility and/or workstations
Trainings
______ I have completed SSSD’s Data Security and Privacy Fundamentals Training.
______ I will complete SSSD’s Data Security and Privacy Fundamentals Training within 30 days
Using SSSD Data and Reporting Systems
___ I will use a password-protected computer when accessing data and reporting systems, viewing child/staff records, and downloading reports.
____I will not share or exchange individual passwords, for either personal computer(s) or SSSD system user accounts, with SSSD staff or participating program staff.
____I will log out of and close the browser after each use of SSSD data and reporting systems.
____I will only access data in which I have received explicit written permissions from the data owner.
____I will not attempt to identify individuals, except as is required to fulfill job or volunteer duties, or to publicly release confidential data;
Handling Sensitive Data
____I will keep sensitive data on password-protected state-authorized computers.
____I will keep any printed files containing personally identifiable information in a locked location while unattended.
____I will not share child/staff-identifying data during public presentations, webinars, etc. I understand that dummy records should be used for such presentations.
____I will delete files containing sensitive data after working with them from my desktop, or move them to a secured folder or server.
Reporting & Data Sharing
____I will not re-disclose or share any confidential data analysis except to other authorized personnel without SSSD’s expressed written consent.
____I will not publically publish any data without the approval of the Superintendent.
____I will take steps to avoid disclosure of personally identifiable information in state-level reports, such as aggregating, data suppression, rounding, recoding, blurring, perturbation, etc.
____I will notuse email to send screenshots, text, or attachments that contain personally identifiable or other sensitive information. If I receive an email containing such information, I will delete the screenshots/text when
forwarding or replying to these messages.
____I will not transmit child/staff-level data externally unless explicitly authorized in writing
____I understand that when sharing child/staff-identifying data with authorized individuals, the only approved methods are phone calls or through a secured file.
_____I will immediately report any data breaches, suspected data breaches, or any other suspicious activity related to data access to my supervisor and the SSSD Information Security Officer. Moreover, I acknowledge my role
as a public servant and steward of child/staff information, and affirm that I will handle personal information with care to prevent disclosure.
Consequences for Non-Compliance
____I understand that access to the SSSD network and systems can be suspended based on any violation of this contract or risk of unauthorized disclosure of confidential information;
____I understand that failure to report violation of confidentiality by others is just as serious as my own violation and may subject me to personnel action, including termination.
Termination of Employment
____I agree that upon the cessation of my employment from SSSD, I will not disclose or otherwise disseminate any confidential or personally identifiable information to anyone outside of SSSDwithout the prior written permission of the Student Data Manager of SSSD.
Print Name: ___________________________________
Signed: ________________________________________
Date: __________________
Appendix B. Protecting PII in Public Reportin
Data Gateway Statistical Reporting Method for Protecting PII
Public education reports offer the challenge of meeting transparency requirements while also meeting legal requirements to protect each student’s personally identifiable information (PII). Recognizing this, the reporting requirements state that subgroup disaggregation of the data may not be published if the results would yield personally identifiable information about an individual student. While the data used by theSSSDis comprehensive, the data made available to the public is masked to avoid unintended disclosure of personally identifiable information at summary school, LEA, or state-level reports.
This is done by applying the following statistical method for protecting PII.
- Underlying counts for groups or subgroups totals are not reported.
- If a reporting group has 1 or more subgroup(s) with 10 or fewer students.
- The results of the subgroup(s) with 10 or fewer students are recoded as “N<10”
- For remaining subgroups within the reporting group
- For subgroups with 300 or more students, apply the following suppression rules.
- Values of 99% to 100% are recoded to ≥99%
- Values of 0% to 1% are recoded to ≤1%
- For subgroups with 100 or more than but less than 300 students, apply the following suppression rules.
- Values of 98% to 100% are recoded to ≥98%
- Values of 0% to 2% are recoded to ≤2%
- For subgroups with 40 or more but less than 100 students, apply the following suppression rules.
- Values of 95% to 100% are recoded to ≥95%
- Values of 0% to 5% are recoded to ≤5%
- For subgroups with 20 or more but less than 40 students, apply the following suppression rules.
- Values of 90% to 100% are recoded to ≥90%
- Values of 0% to 10% are recoded to ≤10%
- Recode the percentage in all remaining categories in all groups into intervals as follows (11-19,20-29,…,80-89)
- For subgroups with 10 or more but less than 20 students, apply the following suppression rules.
- Values of 80% to 100% are recoded to ≥80%
- Values of 0% to 20% are recoded to ≤20%
- Recode the percentage in all remaining categories in all groups into intervals as follows (20-29,30-39,…,70-79)
- For subgroups with 300 or more students, apply the following suppression rules.
Appendix C. Example Quality Control Checklist
Reliability (results are consistent)
- Same definitionswere used for same or similar data previously reported orit is made very clear in answering the request how and why different definitions were used
- Resultsare consistent with other reported results orconflicting results are identified and an explanation provided in request as to why is different
- All data used to answer this particular request was consistently defined (i.e. if teacher data and student data are reported together, are from the same year/time period)
- Another SSSDdata steward could reproduce the results using the information provided in the metadata
Validity (results measure what are supposed to measure, data addresses the request)
- Request was clarified
- Identified and included all data owners that would have a stake in the data used
- Data owners approve of data definitions and business rules used in the request
- All pertinent business rules were applied
- Data answers the intent of the request (intent ascertained from clarifying request)
- Data answers the purpose of the request (audience, use, etc.)
- Limits of the data are clearly stated
- Definitions of terms and business rules are outlined so that a typical person can understand what the data represents
Presentation
- Is date-stamped
- Small n-sizes and other privacy issues are appropriately handled
- Wording, spelling and grammar are correct
- Data presentation is well organized and meets the needs of the requester
- Data is provided in a format appropriate to the request
- A typical person could not easily misinterpret the presentation of the data
ECDA_SP_Data_Gvoernance_Plan-1.pdf